Your router is a wonderful thing. And you don’t have to trust me on that, it’s all in the manual! Your router has got lots of features you’ve never heard about. It’s a pity, because some of them are really useful. It’s true that others may not add a lot of value, though. So, let’s explore what MAC address filtering does, and whether it’s useful for you or not.

Let’s start our journey by affirming that address filtering was built with the goal of protecting your Wi-Fi network from prying eyes. It makes use of the 48-bit addresses which are assigned to the network cards that can be found in our computers, laptops, tablets, phones, and so on.

And yet, some specialists say that this security feature isn’t that useful in real-life situations. So, let’s see how MAC address filtering works in the first place.

It is easy to connect a new client to a typical Wi-Fi network. All you need is the network name and its security key, a.k.a. the password. MAC address filtering ads another step to the process, telling the router to accept new clients only if their MAC addresses have been whitelisted in the router admin panel.

This means that the admin should configure a list of devices which are allowed to access the Wi-Fi network based on their MAC addresses. You need to know those addresses to do that, of course. Fortunately, most operating systems will help you get them without too much effort. You can use this article to discover how to get the MAC address of your Wi-Fi device, for example.

Once that is done, you need to input the addresses into the router and activate MAC address filtering. Then, whenever your router receives a request from a network client, it compares its MAC address with the previously whitelisted address table. The devices that are on the list can connect, while the ones that aren’t on the list are unable to connect to the network. In fact, some routers even have blacklists, allowing you to ban that annoying neighbor who is constantly trying to steal Internet from you.

So, does MAC address filtering really help boost network security? Well, it should to that, at least in theory. Having the router perform the MAC address check before allowing a new device to connect to the network sounds like a good idea. The MAC addresses of the wireless clients are hardware-based, so they can’t be changed, after all.

Still, MAC addresses can be easily faked using freely available software applications. According to Data Alliance, address filtering can be circumvented using a two-step process:

The hacker sniffs an existing, valid network address.

Then, he can easily spoof the MAC into a validated one.

As a conclusion, MAC address filtering may boost Wi-Fi network security a bit, but in the end, it all depends on the admin’s desire to do the extra work that is required. My recommendation is to go for it, even though it will only boost Wi-Fi security a little bit.

On the other hand, if you run a wired network, where data packets don’t fly through the air, you should definitely make use of MAC address filtering. Without sniffing a valid network address, it’s going to be almost impossible for hackers to connect to your network.

Honda has recently enriched the driving experience of people who buy their cars, by adding an emotional component. One of its newest vehicles includes an AI-based system, and has been recently presented to the public.

The NeuV has an Automated Network Assistant, which can help people personalize the driving experience according to their needs. The assistant can detect emotions and the driver’s mood, and then it can suggest media or infotainment options accordingly.

Honda NeuV is an electric car, and it can also become an element of an autonomous ride sharing fleet. This way, the owners can get paid when they aren’t using the cars themselves.

The manufacturer has also tried to reduce the maintenance costs as much as possible. Power consumption is intelligently monitored, for example. The car will charge itself in advance when the electricity rates are low, and it will be able to sell back excess power at higher prices, if possible.

Another interesting aspect is that Honda NeuV allows the drivers to make digital payments on the road, by making use of their Visa accounts.

It may not be everyone’s choice, but I think that the car looks quite good. The doors pivot upwards at a 90-degree angle, so the car can easily fit in narrow parking places. The car is almost transparent, being built out of semitransparent glass. Its surface is reflective, so it has the chances of blending in nicely pretty much anywhere.

The emotional intelligence AI took about 18 months to complete. According to its manufacturers, the virtual assistant can interact with the driver through a large touch screen, which replaces all the standard car panels.

Drivers can get access to all the needed information by just glancing at the screen, which can be viewed through the steering wheel as well. Many of the new systems that have been installed on this prototype will be used for other Honda vehicles as well.

Chromebooks vs Intune for Education

It’s not a surprise that Google is trying to promote Chromebooks as inexpensive notebooks. And to a certain degree they really are! Still, they can’t run many full-blown applications, and this has limited their target market. Until now…

All the Chromebooks that will be launched in 2017 will run Google Play Store apps. Some Chromebooks that were launched last year already had this feature, but now it will be available for every new Chromebook model.

This new feature is definitely going to attract lots of new customers, especially people who have invested money into lots of apps for their phones, and they’ll be happy to get access to them on a much larger screen.

On the other hand, Microsoft has launched the Intune for Education project, which should help students learn things much faster. The software giant has stated that several of its partners will ship affordable Windows 10 PCs. It’s a direct response to Google, which wants to have as many of its Chromebooks present in schools.

To make the things even clearer, Microsoft has declared that the new devices will provide the same levels of power, performance and security that are expected from a typical Chromebook. Also, Intune for Education is tightly integrated with… Office 365 for Education, what else?